- Title: Wedding day turns into tragedy for Aceh family hit by quake
- Date: 8th December 2016
- Summary: VARIOUS OF SEARCH ONGOING AROUND THE SITE WHICH USED TO BE A LOCAL MARKET AND WHERE SUHARNAS WAS FOUND LOCALS WATCHING SEARCH IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2016 07:57
- Keywords: Indonesia bride quake disaster family death wedding
- Location: PIDIE JAYA, INDONESIA
- City: PIDIE JAYA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA0035C0W405
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Yusra Fitriani and Suharnas were due to celebrate their wedding on Thursday (December 8), but a day before celebrations began a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck their hometown in Indonesia's Aceh province.
A few hours after the quake struck on Wednesday (December 7) morning, at around 11 a.m. (0400 GMT), 32-year-old Suharnas's body was pulled from the rubble of what used to be a local market, the place where relatives say the couple first met.
A decorated wedding hall in what would of his been his wife's family home was empty on Thursday morning, as Fitriani lay on a bed next to her mother.
"It is so sad for our family," her mother, Rajiati, said. "We have prepared everything, people from the village have been coming to help since the weekend."
"We asked the religious leader to help us choose which date - on what day and what time - would be best for the couple," added Fitriani's father, M Yunas.
Wednesday's quake hit the east coast of the province, about 170 km (105 miles) from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Aceh's Pidie Jaya regency, with a population of about 140,000, was worst hit.
It was the biggest disaster to hit the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 120,000 people in Aceh alone.
Indonesia's National Disaster Management agency put the death toll at 102 on Thursday, with more than 700 injured and thousands left homeless. Officials fear the number of casualties could continue to increase.
The agency said more than 1,000 personnel, including military officers and volunteers, had been deployed to help in search and rescue operations.
The teams have focused most of their efforts at the site where Suharnas was found. A resident who owns a store in the market told Reuters at least 22 people were killed there. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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